The Low-Car Diet: Could you live without your car?

Best Health

Could you live without your car? The way gas prices have been lately—and with stronger concern for the environment and our poor air quality—it’s a question many of us are asking ourselves. Car-sharing company Zipcar took the question one step further this summer and asked more than 300 participants from across North America, including Toronto […]

Could you live without your car?

The way gas prices have been lately—and with stronger concern for the environment and our poor air quality—it’s a question many of us are asking ourselves. Car-sharing company Zipcar took the question one step further this summer and asked more than 300 participants from across North America, including Toronto and Vancouver, to follow their Low-Car Diet Challenge for a month and get around by biking, walking, using public transit and, when they needed it, booking a Zipcar. The results? An 85% increase in distance walked, 136% increase in distance biked and 71% decrease in distance driven. Perhaps most staggering, 40% of participants reported that they had lost weight during the challenge due to the extra exercise, meaning the program helped both their health (not only through losing weight, but also because they contributed to cleaner air) and their wallets (they spent more than 60% less on car-related costs).

Could you do it? Have you ever tried?

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